This invention relates to safety closure caps for sealing containers and more particularly to a torque controlled safety closure cap which may not be removed from a container by young children as it requires manipulation by a person having adult gripping and reasoning powers. The improved cap has torque control means incorporated in the cap itself for limiting the cap application torque so that the cap removal torque may be set at a desirable value.
A number of safety closures have been designed for use with medicine and other potentially dangerous products. These caps have in certain cases been effective but have been found to be used only with difficulty by normal adults as a result of the use of excess cap application torque. In other cases, safety closures have been too easily removed by young children because of inadequate sealing torque. The improved closure cap has a built in torque limiting means which enables the packer to apply the cap using regular sealing machines while obtaining predetermined sealing and removal torques.
The closure cap is an improvement over the cap of U.S. Pat. No. 3,917,098 dated Nov. 4, 1975 to Acton et al.
The improved safety closure of this invention combines protection against unauthorized or undesirable removal with an integral torque control device thereby not only solving the safety problem but also providing a unique improvement in cap application. The safety feature prevents removal of the cap in the absence of adult strength and reasoning capabilities. The integral torque control permits the cap to be applied with a precise maximum application torque which is independent of the sealing machine and which is determined by the cap itself. This eliminates over tightening or under tightening even though the cap is applied by relatively simple sealing machinery without torque control. This torque control is particularly useful in the safety cap as the safety ratchet arrangement may be designed to provide a cap application torque which works ideally with the removal technique required for normal adults and which at the same time guards against an unintentionally low sealing torque which might permit a child or other unauthorized person to remove the closure cap without using the prescribed removal manipulation.
These improvements are obtained by the provision of a closure cap having an inner and an outer shell which are rotatably interconnected. A ratchet coupling means with an integral torque control is provided for locking the shells together only when they are turned onto a container. A second connecting means activated by an appropriately applied pressure grip of the user is provided to interlock the shells for closure cap removal.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an improved safety closure.
Another object of the invention is to provide a safety closure which is characterized by having an integral torque control which determines the sealing and removal torques.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved safety package comprising an improved torque controlled safety closure useful with a container with a conventional closure engaging means.
Another object of the invention is to provide an effective torque controlled closure which is relatively easily manufactured and which may be applied to containers using conventional container sealing machinery.
Other and further objects of the invention will be obvious upon an understanding of the illustrative embodiments about to be described or will be indicated in the appended claims, and various advantages not referred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employment of the invention in practice.